Sorry for the late entry and apparent thread drift but it's a fascinating read. The following snippets from 22 July triggered my response.

A neighbour and friend in London, the late Paddy Boyle, from Ardaragh in Donegal used to give wonderful accounts of his time as a navvy; it was he who gave me the explanation of the term 'hot-bed'.
He said that some of the landladies would rent out the bed rather than the room, and while one man was working his shift another would be sleeping in the bed - which never got cold.
Don't know if this is true or folklore.
Jim Carroll

Hadn't heard the term 'hot bed' before, and while many men on shift work took turns with the bed - and no doubt kept it warm, I doubt that the landladies had the brass neck to just rent the mattress - but you never know! Donal MacAuligh has a lovely story about being put into a bed with a Corkman when he was stuck one night, & the two of them saying the rosary together; innocent days...
Re. my new project, any similar titbits most welcome...
Ultan

Melbourne is a long way from the action in the thread but hotbedding has appeared twice in my life. During the 1940s Fitzroy (an inner northern suburb of Melbourne) was regarded as having the highest population density in Oz. While the terraced houses along the main streets were still fashionable the ones in the back streets were run down and regarded as slums. Many were boarding houses where the rooms had several beds in them and the beds were rented by the shift. It was an area where it was necessary to be streetwise, even into the 60s, when the area started to be gentrified.

That was my first exposure to the term hotbedding.

The second was much more recent. As a volunteer firefighter in the NSW Rural Fire Service I was part of the first team my brigade contributed to the task force in the (rather large) Pilliga fires in 1997. We were billeted in a motel and, after the first three days, we were joined by another team from our brigade. Accommodation for 350 firefighters in the area was in short supply so we were all billeted in the same beds; while one team was doing their 12 hours the other team was having a kip and the roles changed every 12 hours. This was known as hotbedding and, at the time, was not uncommon in such circumstances.

Not central to the experiences of Irish workers but you may be interested to know that the practice and the term has had such recent currency so far away.

Cheers, Rowan